BOOKS (Monday Poem)

by Mordicai Gerstein


Books!
All sizes, all colors,
whispering,
"Come inside!"
"Come inside!"
Printed words
are a mystery.
How can they be
full of sounds?
How can you
look at this page
and hear my voice?
Read this and see
a green parrot
with a
bright red head
and long
purple
tail
feathers.
Words can frighten.
Words can sing.
Words can tickle.
Words can sting.
Words show us
worlds
never seen before.
Read this
and see
golden waves
crash
on a crimson shore.
And don't forget . . .
books smell good
too.



from Dear Hot Dog by Mordicai Gerstein, 2011, Abrams

HAUNTED HOUSE (Monday Poem)

by Karma Wilson


We go peeking, peeking, peeking
in the broken-down, old window.

We go sneaking, sneaking, sneaking
up the stairrway, throught the door.

Old boards start cracking, creaking
as we walk on tippy-toe.

A mouse starts squeaking, squeaking
in his hole there by the floor.

Wait, a voice is speaking!
Deep and dark, it says so clear,

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?
WHY ARE YOU HERE!?
WHY ARE YOU HERE!?!?"

We go shrieking, shrieking, shrieking
down the stairs, back out the door!

And I promise, we aren't going to
that haunted house no more!



from What's the Weather Inside? by Karma Wilson, illustrations by Barry Blitt, 2009, Simon & Schuster

THE LITTLE TURTLE (Monday Poem)

by Vachel Lindsay


There was a little turtle.
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
He snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.



from Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary Michaels White, Jan Carr, 1988, Scholastic

WHEN YOU TALK TO A MONKEY (Monday Poem)

by Rowena Bennett


When you talk to a monkey
He seems very wise.
He scratches his head,
And he blinks both his eyes;
But he won't say a word.
He just swings on a rail
And makes a big question mark
Out of his tail.